The Federal Trade Commission is requesting public comment on an application from XCL Resources Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of private equity firm EnCap Investment L.P., which seeks FTC approval to buy Altamont Energy, LLC, an oil and gas operator in the Uinta Basin region of Utah.
XCL's petition to the FTC stems from the Commission's 2022 final order regarding EnCap Energy Capital Fund XI, L.P.'s $1.45 billion acquisition of EP Energy Corp. EnCap and XCL are required by the settlement to obtain approval before acquiring any other producer of waxy crude oil with an output of more than 2,000 barrels per day in the Utah counties of Duchesne, Uintah, Utah, Grand, Emery, Carbon and Wasatch.
XCL is a private equity-owned oil and gas company based in Houston, Texas. It owns and operates wells in Duchesne and Uinta Counties, Utah, where it extracts black and yellow waxy crude oil and natural gas.
According to the EnCap Investments Website, the company has more than $40 billion in funds raised and more than 350 active investors.
Consumer advocacy group Private Citizen released a report last year about the substantial role private equity firms play in the U.S. oil and gas industry. The group says PE firms have invested around $1.1 trillion into energy assets globally since 2010. Several took a hit when the industry struggled in the late 2010s, however. "Among oil and gas companies that filed for bankruptcy in 2020, nearly 60 percent were backed by private equity firms, constituting 82% of the debt owed," the report said, citing research by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
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